Judeo to be star campaigner not CM: Advani

The deputy Prime Minister said that Dilip Singh Judeo will be the star campaigner for BJP in Chhattisgarh. He however ruled out Judeo being projected as the CM.

indiaUpdated: Nov 18, 2003 21:48 IST

Pradip Kumar Maitra PTI

The Deputy Prime Minister, Lal Krishna Advani has given an indication that the tainted BJP leader and former union minister, Dilip Singh Judeo, would not be projected as chief ministerial candidate in the coming election in view of the recent bribery controversy.

However, Advani made it clear that Judeo would remain be the star campaigner of the party in the state and he and the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would even share common dais in the election campaign in coming days.

According to the deputy prime minister, Judeo was the victim of sting operation. Politics in the country has become polluted by such sting operations.

“A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry was ordered and the finding would clear that whether Judeo was accepted such bribe or not. The agency will also investigate how, why and who is responsible for this operation,” he informed and asked who is Rahul and what was his motive?

One Rahul was shown in the video clipping, who offered bundles of cash to Judeo for obtaining mining right. “It is better that Rahul comes forward and disclose the truth,” he asked.

Corruption should be viewed in a sober and sensible manner and not merely from the point of sensationalism, he pointed out and said that the alleged bribery case would not affect the poll prospects of his party in the coming elections in Chhattisgarh, instead there would be a sympathy wave for Judeo.

According to him, the way Judeo responded (resignation) it raised the level of BJP. “Our party insisted that he should not resign. But he refused the request and resigned on moral grounds,” he pointed out. The BJP led government at centre has been striving to cleanse the polity and its own record in unblemished, he added.

The scandal broke after a Delhi-based national daily said it had received a Video CD that showed Judeo accepting money. Judeo denied that he ever met Rahul and accepted money, and termed the entire episode as “fabricated and a `designed’ of chief minister Ajit Jogi to defame him.

However, the latest scandal has put the saffron organisation on the defensive in the state where Judeo was the star campaigner. The party had even been indirectly projecting him as a chief ministerial candidate.

Answering a question Advani said that his party would make an issue of “negative rule” of Jogi government in Chhattisgarh. “It is an unique example of negative model of governance in the country,” he further said.